Battletech pixel art
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17549
Printed Date: 30 September 2025 at 10:04am
Topic: Battletech pixel art
Posted By: CELS
Subject: Battletech pixel art
Date Posted: 24 November 2013 at 6:46pm
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I don't know if any of you know what Battletech is. You may be familiar with the old Mechwarrior games. Well, I haven't been doing any pixel art for a long time now, but I found myself pixelling some mechs for a signature, and... well, I think I have to pixel a lot of mechs now.
I suppose I'll have to post them to the gallery, although it feels like taking a step back after trying to learn how to do proper pixel art earlier, and now just doing these silly little mechs. I'm sure I've committed a bunch of pixelling cardinal sins, so I'm posting this here in the hope of some feedback before I submit it to the gallery. 
You can see the sig I made right here. http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/5909/t7f.gif |
Replies:
Posted By: Alex Pang
Date Posted: 24 November 2013 at 11:23pm
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Long time no see! Those are some neat robots! If you are running out of ideas I suggest to add some more asymetry, I need to do that more often my self!
But try to balance it out! While you have some asymetry it could use some more! |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 25 November 2013 at 5:54am
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Originally posted by CELS
...it feels like taking a step back after trying to learn how to do proper pixel art earlier, and now just doing these silly little mechs... Its all about the quality of the pixels not the subject matter. Picasso didn't stop doodling after painting Guernica. ------------- |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 25 November 2013 at 1:52pm
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Yeah, you're not the first to compare my earlier work to Guernica, jalonso! :) Thanks for the birthday greetings, by the way.
The mechs aren't my design, you can see them here: http://mwomercs.com/game/battlemechs But looking at my work, I do think I need more asymmetrical shading. The first mechs I painted have far worse shading than the last ones. They have that typical noob-like lack of directional lighting. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 25 November 2013 at 2:32pm
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rofl ------------- |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 03 December 2013 at 1:26am
Some more pixels.
I'm struggling a bit to learn and re-learn how to shade these complex geometrical shapes, when they've got different angles compared to the direction of the light. For example, the upper part of the thigh on the CN9 Centurion is probably done wrong. I guess the best way to highlight that square is to highlight the left and bottom edges? 
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Posted By: Muxaun
Date Posted: 03 December 2013 at 5:08am
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version 3 plays the best imo.
also consider applying shadows to the bottom parts of his legs.
like this.
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 03 December 2013 at 8:17pm
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Originally posted by Muxaun
version 3 plays the best imo.
also consider applying shadows to the bottom parts of his legs.
like this.
Thanks, I will fix all my mechs with that in mind. I've also been thinking of submitting this to the gallery in the form of a old school strategy game mockup. Some kind of simple animated gif, cycling through all the mechs. I know, I know - it's a crazy original idea, never been done before. :) 
EDIT: Of course, I got so excited while doodling this, I forgot all about using a proper palette. So the colours need to be changed. It was just an early sketch. |
Posted By: a3um
Date Posted: 03 December 2013 at 10:51pm
| I think these gentlemen need more contrast:) |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 04 December 2013 at 1:07am
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Originally posted by a3um
I think these gentlemen need more contrast:) Good point. How's this? Too much? 
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Posted By: a3um
Date Posted: 04 December 2013 at 1:54am
| much better, I'd go even further:) |
Posted By: Mr.Fahrenheit
Date Posted: 04 December 2013 at 2:07pm
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And try to use some more of the darker tones like you have in the AWS and the CTF. A lot of the other ones are dominated by the brighter tones.
EDIT: A quick edit of the Jenner (my fav) to show that you should try to be a little more asymmetrical and use mix the colors up a bit more. 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 05 December 2013 at 1:31am
Thanks for the edit, Mr. Fahrenheit. Made it much easier to proceed. I've tried to pixel the next mech, the Highlander, according to your feedback.
Though of course, I'll have to go through them all to fix them. Originally posted by a3um
much better, I'd go even further:) Thanks! Do you think the palette needs more contrast at this point, or is it enough to just use more of the darker colours? |
Posted By: a3um
Date Posted: 05 December 2013 at 1:54am
By contrast I meant not only colors, but an overall mech volume as well. Here is an example:
1 - highlighted surface 2 - midtones 3 - shadow I wouldn't suggest to go for the small details straight away. First I'd define the biggest parts of the mech ( cabin/torso, arms, head and legs) with all the shadows and highlights and when satisfied with overall volume make smaller details. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 05 December 2013 at 7:12am
| I agree with everything a3um said about giving it volume but I like the newer colors much better. These mechs are so sweet. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 05 December 2013 at 8:19pm
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@ADrawingMan: Cheers!
@a3um, Thanks for the example! I tried to follow your advice. I'm not going to post a step by step, but here's what I came up with. 
Btw, I really like the cockpit glass highlight, but couldn't make it work with the new colors. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 07 December 2013 at 4:44pm
The latest 5 mechs added. Trebuchet, Quickdraw, Jagermech, Orion, Stalker. Now time to go back and fix the first mechs. I also did what you arty types call a color study, I think :) 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 08 December 2013 at 1:25pm
I'm going to do the logo for each noble house in the Battletech universe, anno 3050. Is anyone having trouble with Imageshack today? Seems like the images only load half the time for me. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 09 December 2013 at 4:05am
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Almost done with the first 20.
I left out the Catapult (CPLT) because I just can't figure out how to shade the damn thing and still maintain its cockpit shape. It ends up looking weird and not reading well. I think I've been able to improve a lot of the other mechs from their original version in the OP, but... not the CPLT. 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 12 December 2013 at 1:18am
| You're probably right about that. Thanks! :) |
Posted By: ScaryPotato
Date Posted: 22 December 2013 at 4:15pm
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I think these are all so great, and really hope that you keep working on them. Maybe some white highlights on a few edges with give them a bit more pop, or a little less use of the lightest value to address the contrast in SuperGalen1's post. Love the colour studies! ------------- http://www.adventureapes.com - The Adventure Apes Website http://www.scarypotato.com - My Website http://scarypotatosalad.blogspot.com - My Blog |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 23 December 2013 at 3:42am
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Originally posted by ScaryPotato
I think these are all so great, and really hope that you keep working on them. Maybe some white highlights on a few edges with give them a bit more pop, or a little less use of the lightest value to address the contrast in SuperGalen1's post.Love the colour studies! Thanks, I will definitely make a few more this christmas. And I suppose I will need to go over the contrast again. Much appreciated. Now who invited the spambots? |
Posted By: neofotistou
Date Posted: 08 January 2014 at 4:30am
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I love Battletech! CELS very good job! If I may offer a sloppy edit (TM) , feel free to ignore it. I reinforced the lighting from top left (even drew the lightsource so I wouldn't forget) and used your reference photo (thanks), to capture the likeness a bit more. I am caricaturing a bit, as you see, trying to get the right impression for the mech, instead of a 1:1 likeness. I also turned some body parts slightly, to reinforce their actual volume and orientation. You're doing great! 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 08 January 2014 at 5:38am
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Thanks, guys!
I kept working on this, but I didn't want to keep spamming the forum, so I haven't updated this thread in a while. In the end, I posted these on the Mechwarrior Online forum as a christmas present to the community, letting everyone use my pixel mechs for their forum signatures or whatever other purpose they could think of. It was very well received! 120+ likes and 90 replies to the http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/144488-x-mas-present-free-pixel-mechs/ - forum thread so far. Once I finish my http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17624 - Raven light mech walking animation , I'm probably going to try to make some kind of signature animation (400 x 80 pixels or so) with a parallax effect. Should look nice and be a fun challenge. Something like this (rough WIP sketch) 
After doing this 1:1 likeness thing, I have to admit I wanted to try some cute battlemech caricatures. Not all the mechs, but it would be fun to do one or two. When I get around to that, I'll definitely keep your advice in mind, neo 
Although I have to say, it would be pretty interesting to see you draw some Battletech stuff in your style too! |